YHWH said to my lord.........
YHWH said to my lord.........
I can put it this way. Who is God's God? (Psalm 110:1) Himself! If God were to put everything under His feet, would He put Himself under His feet? (Ephesians 1:22) ... And the answer is no... God would never put God under His own feet!
Hi EE,
You might see that Psalm 110 is actually one of the finest proof-texts showing that God the Father (YHWH) and the Lord (Messiah) are two distinct 'lords',...so there are
2 lords being spoken of here,
The divine all-supreme DEITY(YHWH) and his human Messiah-lord, who is the 'lord' or 'master' of the writer.
See: The Two lords
* and before protesting that there cannot be 2 lords,...scripture begs to differ. (even though the English words 'lord' are not even in the original Hebrew, they are only assumed translations/approximations). Even most English Christian bible translations differentiate the divine name(tetragrammaton) as written in uppercase 'LORD' and the 'lord' or 'master' of the psalmist as lower case (Lord or lord), being the Messiah, David's son. (we ought to note that the original Hebrew text is all uppercase).
Only 5 out of the 50 translations on
Biblegateway use the proper name of 'Jehovah' or 'Yahweh' here.
~*~*~
The LORD (captials signifying YHWH) says to my lord(lower case signifying 'adonai'(Messiah) ):
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
2
The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
3
Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb.
4
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
5
The Lord is at your right hand;
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
6
He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
7
He will drink from a brook along the way,
and so he will lift his head high.
As you know,....God is ALWAYS distinct from his Messiah, His Messenger, Prophet, Apostle, Lamb, Son, Word, etc. Yet in creation or salvation, in all its
various dispensations....of course
you cannot separate the Logos from 'God', since it is thru the logos that all creation/salvation is wrought. This view is traditionally upheld in Orthodox Monotheistic (Unitarian) Judaism, understanding
emphatically that the Messiah is NOT(ever) God himself.
The Messiah-Son of course represents 'God' fully in his preordained and assigned office/role/function....of course,....but most all scriptures ever distinguish God from His Anointed Servant, and logically so (by the fact of
relationship). You can still fully 'interpret' or reference the Messiah as being
'God' in the flesh all you like,...this does not change the FACT of difference of persons, and that there are
2 lords spoken of in one the most significant passages in the Bible, referred to by Jesus and his apostles. - seeing 2 lords in no wise threatens Monotheism in any way, because there is only One LORD (YHWH) and the lord-Messiah whom he has ordained and appointed (giving him power and authority to rule).
~*~*~
Note also,...the Septuagint translation in verse 3 says -
"With thee is dominion in the day of thy power, in the splendours of thy saints: I have begotten thee from the womb before the morning."
Even in this special designation of 'sonship', the Son ever remains distinct from the Father, being BEGOTTEN by the Father, ever
subordinate to the Father, who is his supreme Head. The Lord Messiah and high priest after the order of Melchizedek prays that we all abide together with God and he as one, one in mind, will, purpose, united in Spirit (John 17). A ture monotheist unitarian view here is an
appropriate, logical, formal and orthodox interpretation of the text here, true to Davidic Theology.
Not to split hairs, since no Orthodox Jew or Unitarian Christian is making any claims with this verse or others, that Jesus is YHWH. - the claim is unnecessary, since as lovers of the lord Jesus, we acknowledge he is the
Son of God, God's Messenger-Prophet, His Anointed One.
I don't see how there is any other way to interpret this and other messianic scriptures, when God is always distinct, higher, greater than any man (even if you assume God somehow incarnated himself,
or produced a co-created god, demi-god, god-man, arch-angel, eon, luminary, etc.) - one can assume an Arian, semi-arian, gnostic, new-age, theosophical view of the 'Christ' here,...its all still 'God', his power, his will...being done
thru His
Agent(s). - I enjoy a great spectrum of perspectives in Christology,....they all portray Jesus as the AGENT of God. - the rest is
semantics (cosmetics).
This awesome passage heralds a traditional Mono-theistic Unitarian Christology. - any assumption or allusion that Jesus is YHWH can only be applied
'representationally', 'figuratively'....since God reveals himself
thru and in his Messiah-Son, acting thru His Agent, the one who bears his Name, the Angel of Great Counsel!
Brother Kel below explains this clearly, if any have confusions -
Also Kel's commentary on Psalm 110
here.
Addendum : - this is only brought up for honest exegesis and fairness in translation, plus the use of one's own faculties of reason, logic, intuition, conscience and a spiritual discernment that does no harm or damage to the character or nature of God (YHWH) or His Messiah, who is not only David's Lord, but ours as well,...
since God has made this man both Lord and Christ, the man he has raised from the dead. - this doesn't matter if you have a more Unitarian, modalist, Trinitarian or some other Christological view either,...the text and context is PLAIN. - we would also note that for those who choose to focus or assume an importance of affirming that
'God' came in the flesh, - no Christian (at least of a traditional or orthodox stripe) DENIES that Jesus came in the flesh,...the Spirit bears witness to the incarnation. The logos (plan, logic, wisdom, reason, creative word, fiat) of God was manifested (made 'flesh'), meaning God's will, way and wisdom was REVEALED in and thru the physical embodiment of Jesus...of course....no 'christian' of any denomination would deny this,
although some might interpret this somewhat differently.
We can split hairs over a lot of things, but this verse when held in the heart, especially the heart of David,...inspires the purest worship of our Father, and His Messiah-Son, who is David's Son! David holds the key!...and more. - also note his tabernacle is being restored in the last days which unites all in the Beloved. True worship returns all to the HEART of YHWH, and David leads the way, God's Prince.
View attachment 25401
'God' is ONE.
For some exegetical fun see :
PSALMS 110 – A DIVINE PRIESTLY KING FROM A NEW PRIESTHOOD? NOT! (detailed exegesis by Uri Yosef, PhD)